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A pleasant, sunny morning. It is no longer dark when we arrive at 7:00 a.m. with the lights still on in the Garden. Summer is setting in. The birds are out in the trees and the mood, upbeat. Besides, it is the week-end.
Bapu Rane was surprisingly in his elements, speaking incessantly out of turn and making everybody laugh with his wry humour. He came in, in measured steps, arms jabbing the air like a drunken dancer and sporting a toothless grin. During the exercises, time and again, he broke into mimicking the musical interludes of Kishor-bhai’s songs – tu-tu-tu-tu… And when Sitaram-ji came, followed by Motwani, everybody as usual raised a chorus of “Jai Siya Ram!” Bapu Rane, in the same tone, exclaimed – “Jai Motwani!”
It was a lively, fun-filled morning, although the attendance was not very high. Shekhawat-ji was back to keeping count of every late-comer showing up and no sooner the number of women crossed that of the men, than he stopped counting. As usual, he went all out at Ramila Mistry during both the Slow and Fast laughter rounds. Significantly, the latter was in a terrific playful mood (above, right) determined to outdo Shekhawat-ji at what he is known to do best. She won. And what can you say of Mumtaz Jahan being equally aggressive at out-snarling everybody in the Lion and Lioness rounds? Finally, in keeping with Club tradition, Bapu Rane and Shekhawat-ji performed the Ho-Ho Ha-Ha dance (left) to round off the exercises.
It was clear from the very outset that everybody was into having a good time and making one another happy, without letting the unpleasantness of the past two days get over them. Even Sunita Jajodia was extra-jovial while conducting the exercises, even as a nagging leg injury kept her limping right through. Nafisa Sayed too was her normal self, after taking a break yesterday.
The only dampener though, was Razia Khan (right), who dropped in late. She came to say her byes before she leaves for Dubai tomorrow. She is an entrepreneur, heading Innotek Ingredients (P) Ltd. and has a trade fair to attend and pitch her dietary supplements and cosmaceutical products. We wish her a safe and fruitful trip.